Three-way contest could complicate race

Islamabad: The exit of a key ruling coalition partner has complicated the race to choose the successor to Pervez Musharraf for which nominations opened on Tuesday.

The polling set for Sep-tember 6 had been expected to be a tame affair dominated by slain leader Benazir Bhutto's party till ex-premier Nawaz Sharif herded his colleagues out of the coalition on Monday.

Nomination papers were filed yesterday on behalf of Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, who is co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Zardari himself did not visit the Election Commission office. His papers were submitted by Farooq Naik, the federal law minister, along with other senior PPP leaders including information minister Sherry Rehman.

The other two candidates in contention are former justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, who has filed the papers on behalf of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N, and Mushahid Hussain Syed of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), known to be a key Pervez Musharraf ally. Zardari's sister Faryal Talpur has also filed her papers as a covering candidate.

Political acrimony

The revival of political acrimony was evident yesterday before the Election Commission's office in Islamabad, where PPP and PML-N supporters gathered and chanted slogans for their leaders.

Siddiqui was flanked by senior PML-N leaders including Chaudhry Nisar, Javed Hashmi and Zafar Iqbal Jhagra.

Hussain came to the Election Commission office with PML-Q Chief Chudhry Shujjat Hussain and opposition leader in parliament Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.

"Though Zardari has very good chance because of support from other coalition parties, it will not be an easy ride for him because PML-N's candidate Siddiqi is a neutral person and can get support from other parties," said Amir Mateen, a political analyst in Islamabad.

Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq, who is the returning officer for the presidential election, will scrutinise the nomination papers tomorrow.

The deadline for the withdrawal of the papers will be noon Saturday and the final list will be published the same day.

The electoral college for the election of the president comprises of 1,170 federal and provincial lawmakers. The polling on September 6 will be from 10am to 3pm at the parliament and the four provincial assemblies.

The Senate has 100 members and the National Assembly 342.

The provincial houses of Punjab, Sindh, North West Frontier Province and Balochistan have respectively, 371, 168, 124 and 65 members.